Environmental Team: Obviously, everyone at the O’Callaghan Annapolis Hotel is committed to our green initiatives; however, our “Green Team” is currently comprised of Katherine Matthews and Hannah Back, supervised by Lesley Pattison.

Set Annual Goals: As our green program is still in its fledgling stages, we are working currently to gather information on our current usages to develop baselines and set goals going forward to reduce our impact on the environment. With renovations going forward this year, we feel that the timing is perfect to address many areas in which the hotel can improve.

We have a purchasing policy to encourage the purchase of environmentally-friendly products and services

List of our environmentally friendly products and services: We currently purchase eco-friendly cleaning supplies for our housekeeping staff and we are working to transition our kitchen cleaning products as well. We have also recently switched our coffee service to the Chesapeake Bay Roasting Company which provides fair trade certified, locally roasted coffee for our guests. Hannah has begun ordering paper for the front desk that is made from 30% recycled materials. Whenever possible, we try to purchase from local companies to help reduce the amount of transit and our carbon footprint.

Other details on lighting: Currently working to calculate lighting efficiency

Heating and Cooling

Have a high efficiency heating and air-conditioning HVAC system

Regularly perform preventative maintenance on HVAC system

Have programmable thermostats for each room and ensure they are properly adjusted

Have a centrally controlled HVAC system that is activated only when occupied

Minimize the use of lighting during night cleaning

Keep office doors and windows closed if HVAC system is on

Housekeeping closes blinds and resets optimal temperatures

Energy Efficiency:

Turn off all electrical items in unoccupied rooms when not in use or at the end of the day

Our Innovative Ideas and Specifics in Energy Conservation and Efficiency

We had a full energy audit of the hotel provided by Rexel two years ago and we have been working diligently since then to address areas of concern and implement more green practices. We hope to have another energy audit again soon to evaluate our progress.

Linen Service and Laundry:

We use these best management practices:

Provide optional linen service - Change linens only upon request

Train staff on the process for optional linen service

Have signage in each room explaining the linen reuse procedures

Recycle Grease

We use the following best management practices:

Have a contract with grease filtering company that takes the grease away

Activities we undertake to make our events green are:Staff sorts all recyclable materials after events

Our Innovative Ideas and Specifics regarding Green Events:

We are happy participants in the regular Green Drinks events! Our Green Team plans to talk to the sales team about advertising our green efforts more and providing event coordinators with tips on keeping their event environmentally friendly.

Other Green Practices

Transportation:

We use the following best management practices:

For guests:

Encourage energy efficient vehicle usage

Educate guests on the availability of mass transit

Provide electric charging stations

Other:

Programs:We are also currently working with the Annapolis Environmental Stewardship Program.

Measurable Results

By eliminating our shuttle service and recommending the Annapolis Circulator and eCruisers, we have saved 153 gallons of gas per month.
With an updated recycling contract in February 2011, we are recycling 9 times more materials than the previous year.
We recycle an average of 23 gallons of fryer oil per month or 276 gallons per year which was used to create 191 gallons of biodiesel.
By replacing the lightbulbs in all of our common areas with new energy efficient lights, we are estimating saving 160,761 kWh annually.